When life gives you eggplants, make eggplant parmegiana! And recently life has been very generous to me on the eggplant side so i feel like i should share this recipe with you to keep my good eggplant karma. Eggplant parmegiana is not something i make very often but maybe i should change that. I realized how popular it is at the dinner table and what a great accompaniment it makes to grilled lamb and other grilled meats. It’s also a dish that may have your guests fighting over the leftovers as it was the case at work a few days ago. Now you’ve been warned and i won’t be held responsible for any bruises and broken bones!

Another recipe where almost all the ingredients were grown on the property in the Hamptons or sourced locally. Except for the Sardinian olive oil and the parmegiano-reggiano. Poor little spoiled me.

Hope everyone had a great labor day week-end! Now let’s get back to work, friends. Chop-chop.

Eggplant Parmegiana

Serves 8 to 10

For the eggplant parmegiana:

Extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced

4 cups of your favorite tomato sauce

2 tablespoons capers, drained

1/4 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon dried oregano

3 cups dried bread crumbs

1 cup flour

5 eggs

3 medium eggplants, cut into 1/4 -inch thick slices

4 cups whole milk ricotta cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

For the eggplant parmegiana:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil and garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the tomato sauce, red pepper flakes, and capers, and bring to a low simmer. Let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the basil and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Combine the bread crumbs and oregano in a pie plate and season with salt and pepper. Break 3 eggs into another pie plate season and the flour in another one, season with salt and pepper. Heat some olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, dredge several eggplant slices in the flour, then dip them in the egg, and finally in the bread crumbs. Put in the skillet and cook until each slice is tender and well browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

In a food processor, place the ricotta, 1/2 cup of the Parmigiano cheese and 2 eggs and process until smooth. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper and process until well blended.

Butter a large gratin dish. Ladle some of the tomato sauce to cover the bottom of the dish. Add a layer of eggplant. Spread with half of the ricotta mixture. Spoon another layer of tomato sauce over and sprinkle with about one-third of the mozzarella. Repeat with a layer of eggplant, the rest of the ricotta, tomato sauce, and another third of the mozzarella. Finish with the rest of the eggplant, the rest of the tomato sauce, and the rest of the mozzarella. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmigiano.

Bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown. Wait 30 min before cutting. Serve with grilled meats, a green salad or on its own.

Wow – you certainly made a traditional, somewhat peasant dish, a thing of beauty. Perfectly executed and presented…especially that burnt cheese along the edge which I would be grabbing before you could blink your eyes.

Anonymous

Are you threatening me? 😛

Anonymous

haha.. that’s the part i usually save for myself.

http://www.foodgal.com Carolyn Jung

That’s got to be the prettiest eggplant parm ever. Seriously, usually when you cut into it, it oozes cheese and sauce everywhere. Tastes great, but a bit messy on the plate. Yours is a beauty queen in comparison. 😉

http://twitter.com/IndonesiaEats Indonesia Eats

Here is the deal Zen. Trade me this eggplant for my bo nuong la lot. Btw, my dinner this past month is quite late around 9PM due to ramadan. Still interested to come for dinner?

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

Mmm that is the neatest and most perfect looking eggplant parmigiana I have ever seen! 😮

http://twitter.com/sugarbardiva davina

oh wow, are you growing your eggplants, or i say aubergines, yourself? It’s beautiful I used to think they’re such weird vegetables. LIKE EW DAD WHAT THE HECK IS THAT. and then i found out how delicious they are, i gave up and just gorged myself to pieces on them. I love this dish..I need to eat it!

Ciao Chow Linda

Your eggplant parm looks like it came out of a magazine.

Anonymous

Let’s see.. would i fly 20 hours + for dinner? Probably yes!

Anonymous

There’s a gardener who does wonders on Big Bossman’s property in the Hamptons. I’m a little bit spoiled.

http://www.speakeasykitchen.com Speakeasy Kitchen

We have a plethora of eggplant as well and I was just looking for an eggplant parmegiana recipe… this is it! May you enjoy many years of good eggplant karma in the future.

http://danasfoodforthought.wordpress.com/ Dana

Eggplant parm is a favorite of mine! Yours looks especially yummy

http://breadetbutter.wordpress.com/ Su-yin

I love aubergines – in fact it’s rather surprising how much I like it, considering how much I hated vegetables as a child. But that’s not the point, the point is that this looks amazingly good. I’ve made aubergine lasagna rolls before, but it didn’t have ricotta in them. Next time! 😉 Recipe bookmarked.

http://www.foodieinberlin.com Suzan Taher

My husband is an eggplant parmigiana maniac. I am sure if I made this he would marry me! Again.

Marco

Really nice dish, definately making this soon!!!

Anonymous

Well then, you know what you have to do!

Anonymous

Thank you! My spiritual vegetable adviser will be happy to hear that!

Anonymous

Thanks Su-Yin! I hope you try it.

http://voodooandsauce.com Heather Arndt Anderson

Eggplant parm is so great because it’s jst like like lasagna but with the illusion of being healthy (“it’s vegetables!”).

Anonymous

hehe.. you’re so right!! Now i’m starting to feel guilty to have eaten so much.

http://www.aglugofoil.com Jan

Oooh this does look GOOD!

http://annajohnston.com.au Anna Johnston

Your so right, Eggplant Parma is the bees knees with lamb, and this one sure does look good.

http://nycshare.blogspot.com/ City Share

That looks delicious. I always like eggplant parm.

http://patissierement-votre.blogspot.com/ Debby

Gosh This looks heaven in a plate…

Trissa

Sigh… I don’t know how my comment can do justice to your eggplant dish. Okay how about this – as a carnivore, your dish would make me give up meat!

http://twitter.com/Joyzhang516 Joy Zhang

You are spoiled. Feel free to spoil me anytime Eggplant is my favorite especially if it was grown in the Hamptons.

Claudia Young

hey you. claudia here. was needing a recipe/inspiration and came across this. just saying hi after all these years. still making pizza at http://www.citizenpie.com